General Block

Diagram of a
Communication
System

Definition of Communication
Communication is the transmission of information
from a source to a user.

This definition suggests a certain block diagram

configuration for a communication system (see
next slide) and introduces additional terms which
will be defined as we examine the block diagram.

General Block Diagram of a

Communication System
Noise

Transmitted
signal

Info.
Source

Transmitter

Received
info.

Received
signal
Channel

Receiver

User

General Block Diagram of a

Communication System
Noise

Transmitted
signal

Info.
Source

Transmitter

Received
info.

Received
signal
Channel

Receiver

User

Information:
Data which the user did not possess prior to communicating with the source. This is
a very important definition and is deceptively simple. The key concept is the fact that
the data which the user receives was unknown to the user before the source began
communicating.

General Block Diagram of a

Communication System
Noise

Transmitted
signal

Info.
Source

Transmitter

Received
info.

Received
signal
Channel

Receiver

User

Source:
The source is the originator of the information. The source may be a human voice,
music, digital data from a computer, etc.

General Block Diagram of a

Communication System
Noise

Transmitted
signal

Info.
Source

Transmitter

Received
info.

Received
signal
Channel

User:
The user is the recipient of the information

Receiver

User

General Block Diagram of a

Communication System
Noise

Transmitted
signal

Info.
Source

Transmitter

Received
info.

Received
signal
Channel

Receiver

User

Channel:
The channel is the physical transmission medium over which the communication is
sent. It may be wires, radio airwaves, fiber optics, etc. All channels have physical
limitations which will distort and attenuate the transmitted signal and which will add
noise to the transmitted signal. Thus, the received signal will not be an exact duplicate
of the transmitted signal.

General Block Diagram of a

Communication System
Noise

Transmitted
signal

Info.
Source

Transmitter

Received
info.

Received
signal
Channel

Receiver

User

Transmitter:
We could try to send the source output directly through the channel, but, generally
speaking, the channel will add unacceptable amounts of noise and distortion to the
signal. We use the transmitter to reformat and reshape the signal so that the channel
will not distort it as much. After reformatting and reshaping, the transmitter may also
boost the power of the signal.

General Block Diagram of a

Communication System
Noise

Transmitted
signal

Info.
Source

Transmitter

Received
info.

Received
signal
Channel

Receiver

User

Receiver:
The receiver attempts to translate the received signal back into the original information
sent by the source. This involves basically two steps:
1) Compensating, as best as possible, for the noise and distortion added by
the channel
2) Undoing the shaping and formatting from the transmitter